Chelsea imposes a ban on Liverpool over the 'new Lamine Yamal'

Liverpool has been banned by Chelsea following the acquisition of Rio Ngumoha from their youth system.

At just 16 years old, Rio Ngumoha is attracting significant attention after scoring to help Liverpool secure a dramatic win over Newcastle. This young talent is also the reason why Liverpool’s scouting team was once banned from entering Chelsea’s training center. Rio Ngumoha was trained at Chelsea from the age of 8 before moving to Liverpool in the summer of 2024.

John Terry, Chelsea’s legendary former captain, publicly criticized Liverpool for poaching Ngumoha to Anfield a year ago, considering him one of the brightest prospects he had ever seen at the Cobham academy. Consequently, according to The Telegraph, Chelsea’s former scouting staff were so upset that they reportedly revoked the scouting privileges of those linked to Anfield to prevent further “thefts.”

Chelsea acknowledges losing a precious gem. Rio Ngumoha’s talent pushed Liverpool to break their own £50,000 annual wage cap for youth players.

Ngumoha has not yet signed a professional contract, which is expected to happen shortly after his 17th birthday. Following his recent performance, it is likely that Ngumoha’s agent will negotiate for a significantly higher wage than initially projected for a young player.

Chelsea’s only consolation is that they might still receive a compensation fee. The final amount will be decided by the football tribunal. Given that Liverpool paid £4.3 million to Fulham for Harvey Elliott under similar circumstances four years ago, Chelsea will probably demand a high fee, even if it is only a fraction of Ngumoha’s future value.

Ngumoha began drawing widespread attention in the summer of 2024 when he excelled in pre-season friendlies. In the match against Athletic Bilbao at Anfield, the young talent scored a stunning goal and assisted Darwin Nunez within just 5 minutes, helping Liverpool to a commanding 4-1 victory. Earlier, during the Asia tour, Ngumoha also made an impact by scoring against AC Milan and assisting against Yokohama F. Marinos.

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